There has been a lot of effort in the last few seasons to improve the number of officially appointed referees in local Huddersfield Leagues.

Firstly the Examiner and the Huddersfield FA jointly ran a Save the Ref campaign.

Then The FA along with the Referees Association started the Huddersfield FA Respect Trophy.

The result of these initiatives has seen a large increase in referees. On an average Saturday, some 40-45 fixtures out of a total of 50-55 have official referees.

The introduction of the Respect Trophy has maintained the momentum started by the Save the Ref and the greater respect shown to referees has resulted in referees from outside Huddersfield taking up appointments within Huddersfield whenever they are free.

The winners of the trophy last season was Cumberworth B who had an average mark of 9.40 out of a possible ten and they only finished 0.2 marks above third placed Cumberworth Reserves. The high marks obtained by the four clubs at Cumberworth will hopefully encourage other clubs to improve their average.

The latest table (albeit at an early stage) has Slaithwaite United Reserves at the top and their average is even greater than last season’s winners at 9.60.

They are closely followed by Meltham Ath Res, Lepton Highlanders and Field Head, who finished second last season. Eighty Five of the 123 teams have an average of 8 or better and this average must be helping the general cause.